NEWS: Morning Int’l News Roundup 10.20.09

October 20, 2009

Morning International News Roundup 10.20.09 – get some!

East Asia

N. Korean diplomat arrives in Beijing en route to U.S. [Yonhap]
“Ri Gun, director general of the North American affairs bureau at North Korea’s foreign ministry, is reportedly scheduled to meet Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy on the six-way nuclear talks, in San Diego on the sidelines of an academic seminar slated for Oct. 26-27.”

Gates: Disputed US airfield should stay on Okinawa [AP]
“Pentagon chief Robert Gates did not specifically mention the controversy over the Futenma base…during brief public remarks with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada. But he made clear that the Obama administration would frown on any action by Tokyo to block a new runway at another base on Okinawa when Futenma is closed.”

Karzai Expected to Agree to Runoff [WP]
“Obama administration officials said they expect Afghan President Hamid Karzai to announce Tuesday that he will accept a runoff in his country’s disputed election, after the invalidation of nearly a million of his votes by the commission investigating fraud in the Aug. 20 race.”

Middle East
Iran honors Guards killed in attack, blames U.S [Reuters]
“Iran‘s military accused the United States and Israel of terrorism as it held a funeral on Tuesday for high-ranking commanders killed in the deadliest attack in the Islamic Republic since the 1980s.”

Obama’s Secret Iran Talks [TIME]
“President Barack Obama has a personal stake in the outcome of Monday’s meeting in Vienna between Western and Iranian nuclear experts on the future of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium. That’s because, Administration sources tell TIME, Obama personally weighed in three times during secret, multiparty negotiations with the Iranians over the last four months.”

Abbas says to issue decree for Palestinian vote [Reuters]
“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday he would issue a decree on Sunday to hold elections by January 24, a move that could raise pressure on Hamas to sign an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal.”

Berlusconi sparks feminist backlash in Italy [Reuters]
“Silvio Berlusconi’s cutting remark about a female rival’s lack of beauty has stirred a rare public backlash from thousands of Italian women who had largely kept silent about the prime minister’s womanizing and sex scandals.
About 97,000 Italian women have signed the “Women offended by the premier” appeal after Berlusconi told the matronly, bespectacled leftist Rosy Bindi that she was “more beautiful than intelligent” in a swipe at both her looks and brains.”

UK govt in uproar over exposure given far right [AP]
“To the outrage of many Britons, a white-supremacist fringe party riding a wave of electoral success has been invited to participate in a BBC prime-time TV show on politics.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party government says it is appalled that the far right British National Party will get such high-profile exposure to millions of viewers. The BBC, however, says as a publicly funded broadcaster it must cover all political parties that have a national presence.”